


He’ll Be Fine

by justcallmeradio



Category: Newsies - All Media Types, Newsies!: the Musical - Fierstein/Menken
Genre: Angst, Everyone Needs A Hug, Hurt No Comfort, I'm Sorry, Jack Needs a Hug
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-05-03
Updated: 2020-09-16
Packaged: 2021-03-01 22:14:46
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 2
Words: 2,110
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23974348
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/justcallmeradio/pseuds/justcallmeradio
Summary: Spot and Race find Jack after a fight with the Delancey brothers gone wrong.
Relationships: Crutchie & Jack Kelly, Racetrack Higgins & Jack Kelly, Spot Conlon & Jack Kelly, Spot Conlon & Racetrack Higgins
Comments: 13
Kudos: 39





	1. Chapter 1

“Remember this next time you forget your place, Newsie.”

The words echoed off the walls of looming buildings of Manhattan, followed by a muffled scream. The two boys walking down the street froze when they heard them.

“The Delanceys,” Racetrack shouted, before sprinting towards the source of the sound, cigar in hand. Spot Conlon took off after him.

The boys Rounded the corner to see the Delancey brothers sneaking out of a narrow ally and across the street. 

“Damn it!” Spot shouted, stopping to catch his breath as race turned into the ally. “One of these days I’m going to catch those guys and show them-“

“Spot,” Race interrupted, barely over a whisper. He was kneeing down over something that was obscured from Spots eye.

He rounded the corner and let out a string of curses when he saw what Race as leaning over.

Jack Kelly was propped up against a grimy brick wall, his head drooping downwards. His eyes were closed, The usual bag under his left eye was masked by a dark bruise. Spot moved down next to Race and pushed Jacks hands from where they rested on his stomach, revealing hole stabbed into his shirt and a growing red stain. 

“Jack,” Race said, gently shaking his shoulder, “Jacky, wake up. You need to open your eyes.”

“Racer, we should to get him back to the lodging house. He’s not looking too good and-“

Jack groaned, effectively silencing Spot. He winced as he came to, his glazed eyes tying to focus on the figures in from of him.

“That’s it Jacky, your fine.”

“H-hey Race.” Jacks soft voice trembled. He wasn’t quite meeting Races eyes, but even in his dazed state Jack could recognize his friends voice.

“Do you remember what happened?” 

Jack coughed in response, causing blood to dribble out of the corner of his mouth. Race could only watch as Jack struggled to catch his breath. 

Spot put a hand on Race’s shoulder. “Racer, we need to get him back home.”

His words broke Racer’s trance. He looked up at Spot, eyes desperate and filling with tears. He cast his gaze down again, where Jack was reaching up to the dark stain on his shirt. His hands shook violently as he felt along his chest, until he found the hole in his stomach, and winced. Race grabbed his hands before he could hurt himself more. 

“You’re alright, Jacky, just breathe.”

Spot, with more care than Racer had ever seen him have with anything, slowly pulled Jack’s shirt up his chest. 

“Shit,” Spot muttered. His eyes scanned along the bruises that covered his chest, clear evidence of the Delancy’s brass knuckles. The stab wound was deeper than had thought. Blood was still oozing out of his chest, and it was not slowing down. “He needs help.”

“I need t-to go find C-Crutchie,” Jack said.

“Crutchie is okay, Jacky.” Race tried to smile at him, but couldn’t stop a small sob from escaping his lips.

“Th-that’s good. He couldn’t sell a-all his papers y-yesterday. He didn’t want me to help him b-but-”

“He knows what he’s doing Jack. Crutchie always manages.”

Spot could see they were losing time. Race making small talk was getting them no where. The color was draining from Jack’s face. He he slid an arm behind Jacks back. 

“Racer, help me pick him up.” Spot began to lift Jack off the ground, but before he was three inches in the air, Jack inhaled sharply, and his eyes rolled to the back of his head. The only evidence he was still alive was the soft sound of his breathing. 

“It’s too late, Spot,” Race mumbled. His eyes never left the growing pool of blood around them, but Spot could see his gaze was empty, missing the light that was always shining.

He pulled his arm out from behind Jack, whose breaths were growing more shallow by the second. This was the boy who had pushed him to be better all these years. Who had seen past his hard exterior and seen he was just a broken kid too. Who remained kind when Spot never could living on the streets. Who, more than anything, wanted more than this life. Even after all of the escapes Jack had made and the battles he had won, he couldn’t avoid what was coming.

Spot looked up at Race, who had tracks of tears cutting through the dirt that covered his face. He put a hand over Race’s, who was still holding Jack’s hands impossibly tight.

A loud gasp of breath shocked both of the boys. Jacks eyes shot open once more, and landed on Spot. His hands began to shake again.

“S-Spot. Wh-what are you d-doing in h-here?”

“You know you can’t ever get rid of me.”

Jack smiled a little, and replied “P-poker night a-again? Ya k-know, S-Spotty, you ain’t e-ever b-beating Race.”

Race started to sob louder. Spot shut his eyes tight for a minute and just listened to Jack’s ragged breathing. 

“H-h-hey, where’s C-Crutchie?”

Jack removed his hands from Race’s grip with the last of his strength, and tried to get up. Spot put a hand on Jack’s shoulder, stilling him. Tears poured down Spot’s face now too.

“Crutchie’s going to be fine, Jack,” Spot said, staring into his wide brown eyes, trying to convey the words that would have to be left unsaid. “We all are.”

Jack nodded ever so slightly, the tension left his body, like a weight being lifted off of his shoulders, and his eyes slipped closed one last time.


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okay so I didn’t edit this but I will probably go back and do it later. Thank you to the person you commented and requested another chapter, I hope you like it. If for some reason you came here for my Percy Jackson request, yeah I know. I suck. I’m getting to it.

The lodging house was chaos when Race walked in. It was late, too late for the littles to be up, but Jack wasn’t here, and he usually put the kids to sleep. 

It wasn’t long before someone noticed Race standing by the door. He was alone, Spot had left a few hours ago, to take care of the body.

“Hey, Racers back!”

The boys all cheered, a couple of them threw pillows at him. Race tried to force a smile, but he couldn’t manage. Henry made eye contact with him from around the room, noticing something was wrong. Race nodded to him, hoping he would get the message, because he didn’t have the energy to shout.

“Everyone shut it!” Henry yelled. The younger newsies stopped their pillow fight. “Racetrack has an announcement!”

The newsies all sat in their beds, looking at Race, disappointment clear in their face that the fun had stopped.

“Okay, um...” Racer cleared his throat. Trying not to cry, he continued. “Jack... uh- he got cornered by the Delancey brothers today. Spot and I found him after, but, it was too late.”

“What do you mean too late?” Elmer asked.

“He died,” Race said. His voice was flat. He felt completely numb. The room was silent. Race looked around at all of the shocked faces, thinking this was his fault. Why couldn’t he have saved him? Some of the Newsies were crying, the others just frozen in their places, all except for-

Crutchie crawled into from the window. Race hadn’t even noticed he wasn’t in the room. He must have been on the roof top, waiting for Jack. Crutchie was smiling, unaware of what was happening, but it only took a quick look around the room for it to waver.

“What happened?” He asked. No one answered him. Race watched as he limped into the middle of the room, scanning the faces, and saw the moment Crutchie realized who was missing.

“Where’s Jack?” Crutchie said, his smile was gone now. The boys all ducked their heads. The air in the room was heavy.

Crutchie looked at Race, and he couldn’t force himself to look away. Crutchie’s eyes were wide, starting to fill up with tears. “Racer, where’s Jack?”

“Why don’t we go outside, Crutchie?” Race whispered, trying his hardest to be gentle. He knew how much Jack meant to Crutchie.

Crutchie shook his head, slowly backing away from Racer. Race could see his hands shaking. “What happened? Where’s Jack?”

Race sighed, knowing there was no way of keeping this from happening in front of the other boys. “Jacks dead.”

“No,” Crutchie said, raising his voice louder. “He’s not.”

Racer stepped towards Crutchie, but he kept backing away. Race didn’t know what to do. It was Jack who held the group together, who the boys could talk to, who knew what to do. Race couldn’t do this without him. 

“Crutchie,” Race tried again, “let’s go talk outside.”

Crutchie backed into the wall, right next to the window. Race saw what was happening before Crutchie’s even made a move.

“You’re lying,” he said. His voice was shaking now, tears were running down his face. “Tell me where he is. If he’s in the refuge we can get him out, just tell me the truth!”

“Crutch-“ 

Race started but it was too late. Crutchie threw open the window and crawled out, faster than Race thought he was able. The sound of the ladder rattling filled the room, then it was quiet once again.

“Shit,” Race muttered. The world was spinning, the silence seemed to be pressing in on him. He turned around and kicked the nearest bunk as hard as he could. The littles on the bunk gasped, and Race looked at them through tears forming in his eyes. The littles were looking up to him. They all were. 

“Uh, Race?”

Race turned around. Finch was standing behind him. He looked worried. It took Racer a second before he realized that worry was for him.

“Do you want me to go get Crutchie?” Finch asked hesitantly.

“No,” Race said. He wiped away his tears. The newsies needed him. “He knows not to leave, and he needs time.”

What he really thought was that they all needed time. But they needed to work in the morning, and they needed a leader. 

“Help me put the little to bed,” he said, remembering how he would help Jack. “Then I’ll deal with Crutchie.”

———

It was over two hours later when Race finally slipped out of with window to go to the rooftop. The littles hadn’t wanted to go to sleep. Races heart ached when they asked what do do if they had a nightmare without Jack. He had nothing to do except say himself. 

Eventually, he talked to the older kids. Race told them what happened to Jack. How the police refused to get justice for him. Where his body would be put to rest. They are all crying at the point, except for Race, who had still managed not to shed a tear in front of the other boys. 

When was finally climbing up the ladder to the roof, he felt ready to drop dead. He was surprised Crutchie wasn’t already asleep when he got up there, but the boy was awake, staring down at the streets. 

Crutchie must have heard him walk up, because he didn’t look at Race when he spoke. 

“Is he really dead?”

“I’m so sorry, Crutch.”

Crutchie just nodded. Race didn’t know how to fill the silence, so he didn’t. He sat down next to him and looked at the bakery across the street. Crutchie was so calm now, it scared him. He could deal with someone yelling at him, but this was different. 

“How did it happen?” He asked. 

“It was the Delanceys, they-“

“No,” Crutchie interrupted, “I mean was he in pain?”

Race didn’t want to lie to him, but he also knew the truth would hurt. “Not for long. It was quick.”

Crutchie started to cry. No, that’s not the right word, Race though. He started to sob, great big terrible sobs wracked his body. Race scooted closer and wrapped his arms around Crutchie, just the way Jack used to hold him when they were in the refuge. 

“He was all I had,” Crutchie cried.

“That’s not true, Crutchie, you’ve got me too.”

But even as Race said it, he knew nothing could ever replace Jack. In some way or another, he saved every kid living in the lodging house. Race was starting to cry, too, at this point.

“You know he loved you, right?” Race asked Crutchie.

“I know,” he whispered, pulling himself out of Races arms.

“He just wanted you to be happy. Asked us to make sure you were okay before he...”

Race trailed off. It didn’t feel real. 

“Well your in charge now, right?”

This took Race off guard. “Yeah, I am now.”

“Then we’re all gonna be fine.”

Race hugged Crutchie again, and the two stayed like that, arms around each other, thinking of their lost brother, until the sun rise.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hope you liked it???? Anyways kudos are alway appreciated, and if you have sketching else you want to write, leave a request! Thanks for reading <3

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks for reading! This is my first fix so I hope you liked it. Please leave a comment and if you saw a mistake or have a correction/suggestion I’d love to hear it. <3


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